Managing for dummies

DedicationTo any manager who has struggled to do the job and every employee whohas had to live with the consequences.

Authors’ AcknowledgmentsBob recalls three influential mentors in his career: Jim Reller, a delegatorpar excellence in Bob’s first corporate position at Control Data Corporation,often gave out assignments with a disclaimer such as, “I could probably dothis task faster than you, but I believe you’ll learn a lot from the process”;Dr. Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, whom Bob workedwith for more than ten years, demonstrated how to get the best efforts frompeople by using the softer side of management and never directly tellingthem what to do; and Dr. Peter F. Drucker, whom Bob worked with in his PhDstudies at Claremont Graduate University, taught him that the best management principles were also the simplest ones.These mentors taught more than just the technical skills of assigning work,conducting a performance appraisal, or disciplining an employee. Theyemphasized the people side of management: how to motivate employeesby example, reward them when they exceed expectations, and make each

person feel like he or she is the most important in the world.Bob and Peter also appreciate everyone at Wiley Publishing, Inc., who hashelped to make their books — and Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition, inparticular — be the best, including Stacy Kennedy, Elizabeth Rea, KristaHansing, and Julie Cookson.On the personal side, Bob would like to acknowledge the ongoing love andsupport of his parents, Helen and Edward; his wife, Jennifer; and his children,Daniel and Michelle. Peter acknowledges his wife, Jan, and his children, PeterJ, Skylar Park, and Jackson Warren, for their everlasting love and for puttingup with his crazy life. May the circle be unbroken.

Part III: Tools and Techniques for Managing ............... 177Chapter 11: Delegating to Get Things Done. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179Delegating: The Manager’s Best Tool........................................................ 180Debunking Myths about Delegation .......................................................... 182You can’t trust your employees to be responsible ....................... 182You’ll lose control of a task and its outcome ................................. 182You’re the only one with all the answers ....................................... 183You can do the work faster by yourself .......................................... 183Delegation dilutes your authority .................................................... 184You relinquish the credit for doing a good job.............................. 184Delegation decreases your flexibility .............................................. 185Taking the Six Steps to Delegate................................................................ 185Sorting Out What to Delegate and What to Do Yourself......................... 186Pointing out appropriate tasks for delegation ............................... 187Knowing what tasks should stay with you ..................................... 188Checking Up Instead of Checking Out....................................................... 191

About This BookManaging For Dummies, 3rd Edition is perfect for all levels of management. Ifyou’re a new manager or a manager-to-be, you can find everything you needto know to be successful. If you’re an experienced manager, we challenge youto shift your perspective and take a fresh look at your management philosophies and techniques. Despite the popular saying that you can’t teach an olddog new tricks, you can always incorporate changes that make your job (andthe jobs of your employees) easier, resulting in more fun and effectiveness.Of course, even the most experienced manager can feel overwhelmed fromtime to time, new tricks or not.For Bob, this moment came when he was giving an important business presentation to a group of international executives — only to have one of theexecutives point out that his pants were unzipped. Although Bob scoredbonus points for getting his audience’s attention with this novel fashionstatement, he could’ve done so in a more strategic way.For Peter, his overwhelming moment came when he reprimanded anemployee for arriving late to work and later learned that the employee hadbeen late because she had stopped at a bakery to buy Peter a cake in celebration of Boss’s Day. Needless to say, the event wasn’t quite as festive as itcould’ve been!Face it, whether you’re new to the job or are facing a new task in your current job, all managers feel overwhelmed sometimes. The secret to dealingwith stress is to discover what you can do better (or differently) to obtainyour desired results. When you do make a mistake, pick yourself up, laugh itoff, and learn from it. We wrote this book to make learning easier so that youwon’t have to make all the same mistakes and learn the hard way.

Conventions Used in This BookWhen writing this book, we included some general conventions that all ForDummies books use. We use the following:✓ We italicize any words you may not be familiar with and providedefinitions.✓ We bold all keywords in bulleted lists and the actual steps in numberedlists.✓ All Web sites and e-mail addresses appear in monofont.

Introduction

What You’re Not to ReadNot surprisingly, we think every word in this book is worth your time. Weknow, however, that you may not want to read it all. With that understandingin mind, we make it easy for you to identify “skippable” material by placing itin sidebars. A sidebar is a gray box in each chapter that contains informationthat is interesting and related to the topic at hand, but not absolutely essential for your success as a manager.

Foolish AssumptionsAs we wrote this book, we made a few assumptions about you, our readers.For example, we assumed that you’re either a manager or a manager-to-beand that you’re truly motivated to discover some new approaches to managing organizations and to leading people. We also assumed that you’re ready,willing, and able to commit yourself to becoming a better manager.

How This Book Is OrganizedManaging For Dummies, 3rd Edition is organized into five parts. Each partcovers a major area of management practice, and the chapters within eachpart cover specific topics in detail. Following is a summary of what you’ll findin each part.

Part I: Getting Started as a ManagerBecoming a successful manager means understanding and applying severalbasic skills. This part begins with a discussion of what managers are andwhat they do, and then looks at the most basic management skills: leading,inspiring, and engaging.

Part II: Mastering KeyManagement DutiesThe heart of management boils down to a number of important managementduties — tasks every manager needs to master to successfully get the jobdone. These duties include hiring new employees, setting goals, coaching andmentoring, working with teams, managing virtual employees, and monitoringperformance and execution. We cover each of these duties in this part.

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Chapter 1: You’re a Manager — Now What?This type of management is often known as Theory X management, whichassumes that people are inherently lazy and need to be driven to perform.Managing by fear and intimidation is always guaranteed to get a response.The question is, do you get the kind of response you really want? When youclosely monitor your employees’ work, you usually end up with only shortterm compliance. In other words, you never get the best from others by lighting a fire under them — you have to find a way to build a fire within them.Sometimes managers have to take command of the situation. If a proposalhas to be shipped out in an hour and your customer just sent you someimportant changes, take charge of the situation to ensure that the rightpeople are on the task. When you have to act quickly with perhaps notas much discussion as you’d like, however, it’s important to apologize inadvance and let people know why you’re acting the way you are. Rememberthat the majority of employees leave their positions because of the actions(or lack thereof) of their direct supervisor or manager. So make sure youmove quickly but with clear communication and respect for your staff.

Nice guy (or gal) managementAt the other end of the spectrum, some people see management as a “niceguy” or “nice gal” kind of idea. Theory Y management assumes that peoplebasically want to do a good job. In the extreme interpretation of this theory,managers are supposed to be sensitive to their employees’ feelings andavoid disturbing their employees’ tranquility and sense of self-worth. Thisapproach may come across like this: “Uh, there’s this little problem with yourreport; none of the numbers are correct. Now, don’t take this personally, butwe need to consider our alternatives for taking a more careful look at thesefigures in the future.” This scenario also plays out when someone from thepeer group is promoted into a management position. He sometimes can’teasily transition from being a buddy into being the manager.Again, managers may get a response with this approach (or they may chooseto do the work themselves!), but are they likely to get the best possibleresponse? No, the employees are likely to take advantage of the managers.

The right kind of managementGood managers realize that they don’t have to be tough all the time — andthat nice guys and gals often finish first. If your employees are diligentlyperforming their assigned tasks and no business emergency requires your